Monday Monday ~ Blessings

 Psalm 96:1-6

Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name;

Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

3 Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.

4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;

He is to be feared above all gods.

5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

But the Lord made the heavens.

6 Honor and majesty are before Him;

Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Happy Monday! I thought I'd start out with that beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly enjoying sipping the nectar from the Bottlebrush Tree in our yard.  When I first planted that bush, it was small, and I really didn't think about how large/tall it would get. I mainly wanted it for my butterfly garden area so it would attract butterflies and hummingbirds. 

 It is definitely doing exactly what I wanted it to do! My only complaint is that it is getting quite tall and is starting to obstruct a part of our view of Still Waters Pond!

I thought about transplanting it to a different location not quite so central to our view of the pond, but then we wouldn't be able to see the hummingbirds and butterflies when they are on there...so I guess we can sacrifice the one to be able to enjoy the other, and yes, we can still see the pond.  And actually, once the blooming season is over and the hummingbirds and butterflies have moved further south for the winter we can trim the bush back down to a more reasonable level and let it grow stronger before the next blooming season begins.

Oftentimes in life we do have to learn to make some sacrifices of something that seems really good to achieve something even better.  It's not always easy to do, but when we think about the overall bigger picture, it makes sense. 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 seems to sum up this thought about making sacrifices in our lives now for that which is greater for us in the long run...that is, for eternity!

"16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, 

yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 

is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, 

but the things which are not seen are eternal."

That is a good reminder for me today.  It seems like lately I've been making little sacrifices here and there in being able to do some of the things I enjoy because of my hubby's health issues, and then even this past weekend because of my own health issues. Nothing serious, just a virus of some sort, but I had to forego attending a baby shower at our church on Saturday and then also church services yesterday.  But I definitely didn't want to "share" any germs with the expectant mother or anyone else, and it was truly better for me to stay home and rest and get over whatever this is. Today I am just kind of washed out and still tired, so it is definitely best to just stay put and rest and recuperate.  

Friday evening we invited the kids over for "Taco Friday" (instead of "Taco Tuesday"). I was feeling fine then, and we wanted to give them a break from their kitchen redo that they were tackling all last week.  And no, they didn't get it finished yet, but at least they made some good progress. I will definitely post pictures when the job is done. 

And lest you think we don't pay enough attention to our Grandpuppies now that we have our own porch kitties...here's Rose holding Spice up to look out the window above the curtain we put up to keep the pups from seeing the cats out there.  Apparently the cats were not in sight at this moment or she wouldn't have been able to hold a squirming pup for long...LOL. 

And there's Sugar waiting her turn to look out the window, with her doggie toy squeaking away... LOL.

They sure are sweet pups and we enjoy them coming to visit...but the curtain idea really helps keep them from going crazy over seeing the cats.  At one time Sunshine peeked up over the curtain while sitting in the chair that it was fastened to, so we had to distract the pups really quickly and Sunshine was satisfied that there wasn't much going on so he moved on.  Blackie also peeked once as well, and again, quick thinking inside averted a noisy uprising. LOL.  

I guess there isn't much else to share today. I just wanted to check in with you and let you know I'm still here. I didn't get around to read very many posts over the weekend so I am a bit behind in knowing how all of you are doing.  Hopefully I will get caught up this week.  

Oh, one more special story...This is a picture of my dear friend Sharon and her son Robb. Sharon passed away from cancer in 2019.  Sharon adopted Robb when he was about two years old. Although Sharon was single, she raised Robb with so much love and care. He had some special needs and life was pretty challenging for them for a while, but with God's love and guidance, Robb grew to be a very fine young man.  They lived here in Florida for a good while, which is where we became acquainted, and we became their "Florida Family".  However, Sharon was originally from a very large family in Minnesota, and in her final days she went to live with one of her sisters there until she passed away.  Robb also went to live in Minnesota and eventually got a good job and met a very sweet young lady.  

We have stayed in touch with Robb through Facebook and also other family members. I was very thrilled and blessed to receive these pictures from Robb over the weekend:

Meet baby Ellie!  I knew she was expected, but she came a little bit early, so this was a pleasant surprise:

And here's Baby Ellie and her happy Mama:

Of course my first thought was how happy my friend Sharon would be to know that her Robb is now a Daddy, and that he has grown to be a very responsible and thoughtful man.  I know Sharon would've been thrilled to be a grandma, and I hope she can see Baby Ellie from heaven.  Who knows about these things? Only God knows for sure, but I have a feeling Sharon already knows all about little Ellie, and if people in heaven can pray for us here on earth, you can well imagine that little Ellie has been bathed in heavenly prayers and love ever since her conception.  

Psalm 139:13-16

"13 For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them."

I wish they weren't so far away, as I would love to play surrogate Grandma for little Ellie, but thankfully Robb has many doting Aunts and cousins and family members nearby who will definitely make sure that Little Ellie gets LOTS of "grandma"  kind of love.  She will be much loved and blessed for certain. I know that she will be added to my prayers and who knows? Maybe I'll get to meet her and hold her someday. 

Okay, that's all for now. Thank you for listening. Have a blessed and wonderful week my friends.

Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

 Hello Friends!  This first picture should have gone with the Tuesday 4 post about Books!  But I didn't think about it until later, after reading everyone else's posts and comments on my blog.  That is how I felt after hearing how much so many of our friends love their books!   I've seen this picture many times before on Facebook, and I've always loved it because of the joy of these two dear old ladies sitting under the table having a cup of tea together with all of their books stacked up around them and just laughing and having such a great time! Oh, and eating bonbons  and candy and it looks like they have found the secret to happiness!  Yep! I could see myself and a good friend in this picture in a few years...(or maybe not so many years away...LOL). How about you? It just makes me smile...

So how has your week been going?  Ours has been busy, even without so many appointments...it just seems like the days get filled up.  Hubby got his new glasses the other day, and so when he went to pick his up I had the optician in our eye doctor's office take another look at my new glasses, just to be sure they are lined up right. She made a couple of little adjustments and I tried them again, and I do think they are better. My eyes seem to be adjusting finally, so that's good news.

On Sunday I had a little bit of sadness when I thought I had lost one of my earrings for good.

This is the remaining mate.  I knew I must've dropped it somewhere at church, and so we went back and retraced my steps everywhere, hoping to find it in some obvious place. I even sent this picture to the lady who does the cleaning on Monday morning to let her know to be on the lookout for it.  You may ask why be so upset over losing an earring? Well, this particular set had belonged to my hubby's grandmother, "Nanny Martin".  My Mother in law had given it to me with some other of Nanny Martin's jewelry years ago.  It has to be quite old, because if Nanny Martin were still living she would be around 128 years old. And even though I somehow can't envision the sweet, humble country woman that I knew, who was already in her 70's when I first met her, ever wearing these pretty dangly earrings, at some point in her younger life she must have because they were hers, and I sure didn't want to lose one of them.

This is how I remember her...

But this is how she looked as a young woman...

So anyway, back to the story...On Monday afternoon I went to the church to drop off my hubby for the Men's Bible Study, and also to pick up our church Secretary at the office to go with me over to the Parsonage for the Ladies' Bible Study. I showed her the picture of my earring, and she said, "Oh! It's been found!"  The Pastor was also there at that moment, and he said that his wife had it with her and will give it to me at the Bible study!  It seems that as I was leaving church on Sunday, one of our sweet younger women came up to me and gave me a hug.  She has very long beautiful hair, and apparently as I embraced her with a hug, my earring caught in her hair! I did not notice it at the time and neither did she, but when she was walking to her car she realized it was caught in her hair. At that point she wasn't sure where it had come from so took it back to our Pastor's wife and gave it to her to find out who it belonged to. I had already left the church, and I didn't realize the earring was missing until I got home. So you can imagine my joy to have this lovely earring returned to me.

(Nanny Martin's earrings, sitting on a quilt that she made)

Here is the matched set, along with another little black earring that also has a story.  It also belonged to Nanny Martin.  And I loved wearing that sweet little antique set of  black earrings. However, again, because these earrings are the old fashioned screw on type of  clasp, they often came loose, and sadly I lost the mate to this one at my parents' church many years ago. I searched and searched there at the parking lot and all around, but it never showed up.  So I've been sad about that one all these years, and then when I thought I'd lost the mate to the dangly pair, I thought that I would just wear the one dangly and the one little earring at the same time and call it a set  with a story!  Now I won't have to do that, but I am wishing I could turn the little earring into a pin or a necklace or something special. Not sure how to do that...but it's a thought anyway.    I am thankful that that which was lost has been found. Is it really that valuable? Probably not in monetary value, but to me the links to dearly departed loved ones have a special value that goes beyond worldly treasures. It's a way to honor the memory of someone who meant a lot to my husband and also to me.

Reminds me of this story in the Bible...

Luke 15:8-10 NKJV

The Parable of the Lost Coin

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Now, here's another story...

The last few days that we've gone walking I could hear the Eastern Towhee singing in the treetops, but I could not see him.   So I got the bright idea to play his "song" on my cell phone to see what would happen.  You can listen to it here:

Well, let's just say that I almost found myself being sought out by this Towhee almost immediately:

He flew to the nearest tree and kept looking around, and then he flew across the road right over top of me and went to another tree:

And you could tell he was rather excited and maybe even distressed because he could hear that other bird singing, but he couldn't find it.  This was in the morning...and he flew back and forth several times over and around me until I turned off the recording and we decided to move on before I was possibly attacked by this excited bird.

However, the next evening we came back, and I thought I might try it again to see what would happen, and sure enough, as soon as the recording started playing, the bird flew to a nearby tree and started watching and singing back...

Then he flew to another tree and kept returning the calls from the bird on the recording:

He was really quite excited about hearing this other bird.  After a little while I decided that maybe we should go because I could hear other birds calling as well, and it seemed like they were getting excited.

So I learned one thing, if you want to attract a bird to come closer, just play a recording of his call on your cell phone and you may find yourself the center of some bird attention. I don't know if it is a good thing to do or not, but I did enjoy seeing the bird up close and have these pictures to share with you.

But maybe that was just cheating a little bit...not sure...but maybe I won't do that again because as they say, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature". LOL. (Remember that commercial for Chiffon Margarine? Now I'm dating myself...I see that was back in the 1970's! Some of you may be too young to remember!)

Well, that's all for tonight.  I hope you are having a wonderful week! 

Psalm 96:1-6

1 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name;

Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

3 Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.

4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;

He is to be feared above all gods.

5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

But the Lord made the heavens.

6 Honor and majesty are before Him;

Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.